New Delhi, Delhi, India

The Supreme court of India will examine whether the mosque is an integral part of Islam or not while adjudicating the Ayodhya Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi dispute.

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Also read:  Supreme Court sets April 6 as date of hearing of Ayodhya dispute

A bench, comprising of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justices Ashok Bhushan and Abdul Nazeer, would also examine whether a five-judge bench is needed to go into the question.

However, the top court declined the demand by a senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan that dispute should also be referred to a larger bench.

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The question posed by the court is expected to further delay the long going Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi case verdict.

The court will next hear the case on April 6.

The top court is hearing 13 appeals filed against the 2010 judgment of the Allahabad High Court that that had ruled on a three-way division of the disputed 2.77-acre area at Ayodhya among the parties -- the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and the Lord Ram Lalla.

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It had dismissed all 32 intervention petitions in the case, including of filmmaker Shyam Benegal, actress Aparna Sen, social activist Teesta Setalvad and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy.

The bench had also directed the registry not to entertain any intervention application in the Ayodhya case.

The Babri Masjid, a centuries-old point of tussle between the Hindus and the Muslims, was built by Mughal emperor Babur in Ayodhya in 1528. 

On December 6, 1992, the mosque was demolished by Hindu Karsevaks, claiming that the Ram temple that originally stood there and had been demolished to construct the mosque.